Rent – buy – drive

Did you know that Deutsche Bahn maintains one of the largest vehicle fleets in Germany? As surprising as that may sound, it’s true. However, behind the curtain are innovative mobility concepts from DB Fuhrpark, a consistent service that also brings employees and customers to their desired destinations beyond the tracks. Whether renting, buying or leasing: DB Fuhrpark provides the right solution for private and business customers so that they can reach their travel destination anytime. Around 30,000 vehicles are managed through FLEETperfect, a customer solution based on BSI CRM.

What do rail employees and passengers do when the train does not deliver them directly to their destination? Right! They buy, rent or lease a vehicle from the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary, DB FuhrparkService GmbH. This company operates mobility management for road vehicles belonging to the DB Group. DB Fuhrpark also offers mobility solutions for the external market. This includes services such as long- and short-term rentals of around 30,000 fleet vehicles and the associated fleet management. BSI developed the software necessary to provide this service. Overall project manager, Thomas Schaefer, Head of IT at DB Fuhrpark, is an experienced expert, both when it comes to fleet management and CRM. Even before he was employed at DB Fuhrpark, he was active as an IT business consultant and later as a project manager at “Bundeswehr Fuhrpark Services”. He knows that the greatest challenges in the realization of multilayered projects of this kind include heterogeneous process and system landscapes as well as isolated solutions.

FLEETperfect is based on BSI CRM and depicts the complete fleet vehicle management process. “With FLEETperfect we have homogenized our isolated solutions which evolved over time. FLEETperfect has replaced our heterogeneous IT world as an integrated overall system,” explained Thomas Schaefer. With FLEETperfect, DB employees and business partners can configure, order, insure and settle vehicles, monitor dates, manage returns and damage claims, initiate renter changes, order replacement vehicles and much more. “BSI CRM supports all relevant fleet management processes from procurement to billing,” according to Thomas Schaefer. For the IT expert and the overall project manager, the primary advantage of FLEETperfect is the holistic depiction of business processes from start to finish. The FLEETconfigurator is integrated into the fleet management, so that media and system breaks are now a thing of the past. “FLEETperfect provides transparency and a seamless overview. Since the introduction of FLEETperfect, it’s all about: one system, one truth,” reported Thomas Schaefer.

Intelligent self-service boosts efficiency

DB Fuhrpark plans to further expand its integrated and automated self-service portal for business partners. “Through the integration of the relevant external partners, such as inspection organizations, insurance companies, car dealers, tire partners, group systems, etc. into our business process, we are already attaining significant efficiency improvements and will consistently elaborate and expand this topic.” A direct connection to the vehicle manufacturer would be the next logical step. The configurator for ordering individual vehicles and the option of ordering standard “sticker price vehicles” based on vehicle categories make FLEETperfect an attractive tool for customers and employees alike. “FLEETperfect helps us avoid errors and to efficiently serve our customers,” Thomas Schaefer summed up.

“Since FLEETperfect is used throughout the entire DB Fuhrpark value creation chain, its further development is closely linked to our customers’ corporate objectives. That meant that it was our job to develop good software to support the achieving of these objectives, which was a great motivator,” explained Sebastian Louis, BSI Project Manager.

Why use BSI CRM as a basis for FLEETperfect?

“We commissioned a preliminary study for FLEETperfect. As a provider for the Swiss Post subsidiary, Mobility Solutions, BSI proved itself to be a competent partner,” stated Thomas Schaefer. Together with Mobility Solutions, DB Fuhrpark profits from further developments of the industry solution with BSI CRM. “Besides their competence, BSI is best characterized by the main adjectives: flexible, fast and service-oriented,” according to Thomas Schaefer. “BSI is a very special company.” After eleven years at an IT business consulting firm, he knows what he is talking about: “BSI is not only very successful at what it does, but also really seems to enjoy doing it. The company values quality and resists the temptation to grow disproportionately. I like that and that’s how it should stay.”

“The greatest challenges were our heterogeneous process and system landscapes, along with the isolated IT solutions.”

Thomas Schaefer, Head of IT at DB Fuhrpark

Fast facts about the project

DB Fuhrpark manages around 30,000 fleet vehicles with FLEETperfect (a custom solution based on BSI CRM), generates up to 10,000 invoices monthly with a total of more than 500,000 line items and administrates more than 3 million vehicle-related documents. Around 400 employees use FLEETperfect to manage the Deutsche Bahn fleet just as professionally as they do other larger and smaller business customers.